Numerology Nightmare

Late Sunday night our buyers came back that $3k over asking and a close date of April 25 was their final offer so we agreed to that and they were supposed to come back to us Monday with the new offer letter to that effect and proof of the rest of their funds  (they had sent over a bank statement that showed only $259,000 and this was supposed to be an all cash deal.)

Well, instead their realtor called our realtor Monday afternoon to say that the buyers, being Chinese and apparently EXTREMELY hung up on superstition, felt that the agreed upon price -- $342,900 -- was not, in fact, a lucky number. To which our realtor replied "Well then they better come up with a higher number that IS lucky!" After belatedly doing some research we learned that the Chinese are extremely hung up on lucky/ unlucky numbers with "4" in particular being very unlucky and "8" being very lucky. 

So it went until Monday night when we heard back that the number the buyers were hung up on now was $341,800. Well, while we were rather annoyed, this was still over asking price. We asked that if they were dropping their offer price and still insisting on the less than 30 day close they take the dishwasher as is (it's broken) instead of us fixing or replacing it. 

And then we waited all day Tuesday to hear back from them, at which point we were very annoyed because seeing as they were insisting on closing 3 weeks from Friday it would be expedient to get a move on things. 

We finally heard back Tuesday evening, in an email that our realtor forwarded to us from their realtor, that after consulting with many friends and family they had come up with a new offer price of $331,800 and a long list of demands including not only the condo docs & budget but also minutes from association meetings, proof that permits were pulled when the basement was finished and a whole slew of things I can't even remember. Then they reiterated that they needed to close on April 25 because "it was an auspicious date on the Chinese lunar calendar". Meanwhile they had still not actually come up with an offer letter OR proof of funds. Mike & I finally decided we had had enough -- I mean if it was taking them 2 days and counting to come up with another offer letter all the while making the price lower and lower, what would be next? Surely purchase and sale would have to be an auspicious number as well...? And the fact that they were asking us to pack up and essentially be jobless and homeless in three weeks for no reason whatsoever except that April 25th was an auspicious date?? No way!!

Here's to hoping we have an offer from a NOT TOTALLY CRAZY buyer real soon!! We have lucky showing number 14 tomorrow ;-)